Foreword
There are many reasons for not to wanting to review, or even own, any
type of clone in the electronic cigarette industry. The reasons against
owning one are based primarily on personal safety issues, including but
not limited to; ‘inferior materials, manufacturing shortcuts, and time to market.’
– Any one of these reasons can cause a serious problem, unless you know
the clone maker or trust the vendor that has made the decision to sell
it. I won’t even get into matters that have always been a huge concern
of mine, like ‘intellectual property rights’.
The reason(s) for considering a review or a purchase of a clone has to do with, well, one thing. Price. The HEIMDALL STYLE MOD clone being reviewed today is $170 less than the original Heimdall from the Philippines.
The Clone is here to stay
As long as high-end mechanicals are in the $200 and up price range,
and as long as China remains firm in their desire to clone anything and
everything they can, clones in the eicgarette industry are a reality
that won’t go away anytime soon. And most vapers are fine with clones,
prefer them actually, so that desire will be sated one way or another.
The number of people that can afford a high end mod is tiny when
compared with people that want to vape with a high end mod, and when
presented with two devices that look the same, and vapes the same (or
appears to), most people are going to go for the clone. You can’t really
blame them, high-end mod makers do not go out of their way to explain
(justify?) the high price of their mods, and clone makers are getting
better and better at ripping off the specs of the originals.
The Clone and the Counterfeit
Spinfuel’s attitude about clones is still an attitude in progress. Our real problem lies with companies that produce counterfeits of
popular products made by companies that have spent a lot of money in
R&D only to see it ripped off and presented as the real thing, right
down to the barcode. At least when dealing with clones the manufacturer
identifies the product as a clone and doesn’t try to hide the
fact. Admittedly, both practices leave a nasty taste in my mouth, but
clones are the lesser of the two evils.
Features of a $25 HEIMDALL STYLE MOD CLONE
510 threading connection
Floating 510 center pin
Brass contacts
Adjustable positive contact
Bottom spring-loaded firing button, with reverse-threaded locking ring
Laser engravings
21.8mm diameter
Full set of tubes (18350, 18500 &18650)
Houses single 18350/18500/18650 battery (batteries sold separately)
Specs for the HEIMDALL STYLE MOD (clone) are as follows…
SIZE
DEPTH: 22MM
HEIGHT: 82MM
WIDTH: 22MM
WEIGHT: 0.202g
THE REAL HEIMDALL Mech Mod – $200
The Heimdall mechanical mod is a product of a Philippines, by a company called Vape Jam. The Feature Set for this $200 mod is as follows:
Heimdall Mod by Vape Jam Mods
Constructed of Australian Brass
Mod includes 18650, 18500, and 18350 tubes
Soft firing bottom button
Reverse locking mechanism
Silver plated copper pins
Floating and telescopic positive pin
22 mm diameter
Made in Philippines
Nearly always ‘Out of Stock’
As you can see in the photos, they look very much alike, the Heimdall clone is a nearly a 1:1 clone,
with fine differences based on the quality of the brass used in its
construction, the silver plating, the ‘number’ on the tube, and so on.
In addition, instead of being massed produced in an assembly line in
China the Vape Jam Heimdall is built with extreme care
in small lots. They are, without a doubt, hard to find, and the Heimdall
is a high-end mod of incredible fit and finish.
Heimdall Clone vs. Heimdall Original
I owned an original Heimdall for a couple of months, until a friend
of mine made the jump to mech mods and he instantly fell in love the
Heimdall. I have way too many devices anyway, so I gave it to him.
Since I had experience using the real Heimdall I was the obvious choice to review this clone… I guess.
My Experience With The Heimdall Clone
It’s true that the Heimdall clone suffers from a bit of battery rattle,
the center pin isn’t as precise or as moveable as the original
Heimdall, and, if I remember correctly, the silver plating isn’t as
thick. Another thing I noticed about this $30 clone is the tube and caps
do not screw together like the hot-knife-through-butter smoothness of the real Heimdall, but it isn’t bad either. Would you expect any different?
Where it matters, performance, the $200 Heimdall and the $30 Heimdall clone are so close most vapers, yours truly included, can’t tell the difference. I’m not saying there isn’t a
difference, what I’m saying is that the differences are undetectable to
the average vaper and can be mostly seen when hooked up to certain
testing equipment.
To put it as simply as possible, would it matter to you if a high-end
mech mod, costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $200, output
precisely 3.7v every single time you pressed the firing button? Would
you accept a lower-end device, costing in the range of $30, that output
3.69v 90% of the time and 3.71v the other 10% of the time? What about
drop off? How much of a difference would it make in your vape experience
if the $200 mod had virtually zero drop off while vaping and the $30
clone experienced slight drop offs while vaping?
Simplicity
A mechanical mod is really a very simple device. The purpose of every
mechanical mod is also simple: to send uninterrupted, accurate, power
to the atomizer. A good mech mod does so safely, consistently, and
accurately. A good clone should do the same thing. It doesn’t take $200
and more to build a device that can do that, and do it extremely well.
That’s not to say that a product like the original Heimdall isn’t worth
the $200 price tag, if you’re looking for more than the simple
performance of a mechanical mod.
The High-End Mech Mod – In Brief
A high-end original mod maker nearly always uses superior metals, and
assembles them with the utmost care, exacting precision, and with real
passion to build and sell a product they can be proud of… and the owner
can be proud of. A high-end mech mod will last decades and its
performance may never degrade.
The Low(er)-End Mech Mod Clones – In Brief
A clone costing a fraction of the real thing can, and often are, made
of the same materials used in the original high-end device. When this
happens the shortcuts are made in the quality of the materials.
A high-end mech mod may use 99.9% silver for its plating and a clone
may use 82% silver. A high-end mech mod may use 18k gold contacts and a
clone may use 10k gold contacts. Both companies claim silver plating and
gold contacts…but which one will provide a cleaner line for power
transfer, which one will last longer?
In the end, I find myself torn between the high-end mods and their
clones.
If I could afford it easily I would have the very best of
everything I own, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon. I
suppose when it comes to electronic cigarettes and other vaporizers,
what it comes down to is how far down the rabbit hole you are. Is the act of vaping so much a part of your life that spending $170 more for a device that looks the same, and vapes nearly the same as the less expensive one make sense to you? I can’t answer that, only you can.
Never miss more savings at Hekvapor and get away from stink-eye there.
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